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The Undivine Comedy (Template:Lang-pl) is a prose drama composed in 1833 and published anonymously in 1835 by a Polish romantic poet Zygmunt Krasiński. It is his most famous work.

The main theme of the work is social and political conflict, or in Krasiński's words the struggle between "aristocracy and democracy".

History

Krasiński begun working on the drama in June 1833 in Vienna, and finished it in the fall next year in Venice. It was published anonymously in 1835 in Paris. The reason for the anonymity was likely Krasiński's intent to protect his family from possible repercussions in the Russian Empire of which they were subjects of, as his works were often outspoken and contained thinly veiled references to current politics.

In later years Krasiński would also work on another drama related to the Undivine Comedy. He considered creating a trilogy of which the Undivine Comedy would be likely a middle part of, but he would never finish this project (it would eventually be published posthumously at the Niedokończony Poemat - The Unfinished Poem). The entire trilogy was to feature the same protagonist, Count Henry, who is called The Youth in the unfinished prequel, and The Husband in the Undivine Comedy.

The play has been translated into more than a dozen languages and while initially it was considered too difficult to be adopted properly into a theatre, it has been staged numerous times in Poland and abroad. Many directors such as Arnold Szyfman (Warsaw 1920), Leon Schiller (Warsaw 1926, Łódź 1938), Bohdan Korzeniewski (Warsaw 1959), Konrad Swinarski (Kraków 1965), Adam Hanuszkiewicz (Warsaw 1969) and Jerzy Grzegorzewski (Warsaw 2002) to the music of composers such as Ludomir Różycki, Jan Maklakiewicz, Grażyna Bacewicz and Krzysztof Penderecki staged the play from 1920's onward.

Plot

The plot of the drama takes place in the near future, where Krasiński used recent contemporary events, such as the French Revolution, and the ensuing power struggle between the Jacobins and other factions as inspiration and extrapolating a number of social trends. The protagonist of the drama, Count Henry (in Polish, Henryk), is an conflicted artist, who find himself leading, together with his fellow aristocrats, a defense of the Holy Trinity castle, against revolutionary forces professing democratic and atheist ideals, commanded by a leader named Pancras (in Polish, Pankracy). In the end, both sides are portrayed as a failure: while the revolutionaries take the castle, their leader increasingly doubts the righteous of their cause, and the drama ends with him seeing the vision of the Christianity being triumphant after all.

The first acts of the work builds up the character of Count Henry, focusing on his private life as a husband, father, and artist; while the second is focused on large revolutionary struggle.

Analysis

The initial title of the work was Mąż (The Husband). Another title that Krasiński considered was the Ludzka Komedia (The Human Comedy). That title as well as the final title of the drama that Krasiński settled on were both inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy and have a double meaning: it depicts history as a work of humanity, or as a comedy taking place in absence of divine intervention, but contrary to God's will. The work has been influenced by Krasiński's thoughts about the Polish November Uprising and the contemporary French July Revolution of 1830, coupled with his study of the changes wrought by the emerging capitalism to Western Europe.

Krasiński's work effectively discussed the concept of class struggle before Karl Marx coined the term. It has been described as the "first literary expression of class war". The philosophy of the revolutionaries in the drama has been described as "nothing other than dialectical materialism". The drama's themes are social revolution and the destruction of the noble class. It is critical both of the weak and cowardly aristocracy, whose destruction it prophesized, but also of the revolution, which he portrayed as a destructive force. The work is also tackling the topics of the identity of a poet, the nature of poetry, and myths of romantic ideals such as perfect love, fame and happiness.

Count Henry has been analyzed as an example of the "worst possible version of Romantic individualism", conceited and egoistical, only partially redeemed by his service to the humankind, a task in which he will ultimately fail in as well. Professing to defend the Christian ideals, he ultimately commits the sin of suicide.

Halina Floryńska-Lalewicz summarized the message of the work as follows: "Krasiński seems to say that in historical reality neither side can be fully in the right. Righteousness resides solely in the divine dimension, and it can be brought into the world by none other than Providence and the forces aligned with it. Man caught up in history is always a tragic figure, condemned to be imperfect and make the wrong choices."

Reception

Already in the 19th century, Adam Mickiewicz discussed the work in his courses at the Collège de France, calling it the "highest achievement of the Slavic theater". A century later, Polish writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Czesław Miłosz called this work "truly pioneering" and "undoubtedly a masterpiece not only of Polish but also of world literature”. Miłosz notes that it is uprising such a brilliant work was created by an author who was barely out of his teens. Halina Floryńska-Lalewicz called the work "an outstanding example of Romantic, metaphysical drama".

References

1. ^ Czeslaw Milosz (24 October 1983). The History of Polish Literature, Updated Edition. University of California Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-520-04477-7.
2. ^ Sudolski, Zbigniew (2016). "Zygmunt Krasiński". Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2019-08-12.
3. ^ "Zygmunt Krasiński | Polish poet and dramatist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
4. ^ Milosz, Czeslaw (1983-10-24). The History of Polish Literature, Updated Edition. University of California Press. pp. 243–247. ISBN 978-0-520-04477-7.
5. ^ Fiećko, Jerzy (2014-11-27). "Co zrobić z Niedokończonym poematem Zygmunta Krasińskiego?". Sztuka Edycji (in Polish). 6 (0): 23–28. doi:10.12775/SE.2014.004. ISSN 2391-7903.
6. Victor Erlich (1964). The double image: concepts of the poet in Slavic literatures. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 53.
7. ^ Floryńska-Lalewicz, Halina (2004). "Zygmunt Krasiński". Culture.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-05-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
8. ^ Czeslaw Milosz (24 October 1983). The History of Polish Literature, Updated Edition. University of California Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-520-04477-7.
9. Sudolski, Zbigniew (2016). "Zygmunt Krasiński". Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2019-08-12.
10. Zbigniew Sudolski (1997). Krasiński: opowieść biograficzna. Wydawn. Ancher. p. 149. ISBN 978-83-85576-19-8.
11. ^ Bėlza, Igor (1974). Portrety romantyków. Pax. p. 173.
12. Kuciak, Agnieszka (2003). Dante Romantyków: Recepcja Boskiej Komedii u Mickiewicza, Słowackiego, Krasińskiego i Norwida (in Polish). Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM. p. 31. ISBN 978-83-232-1240-9.
13. ^ Czeslaw Milosz (24 October 1983). The History of Polish Literature, Updated Edition. University of California Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-520-04477-7.

• Romantic art
• 1835 plays
• Polish plays